Legarda: Intensify Disaster Preparedness Campaign to Prevent Tragedies

Senator Loren Legarda today underscored the need for stronger disaster management efforts as she warned against more frequent and intense tropical storms that may hit the country this year.

The Senator issued the statement following the release of the Global Risk Index 2015, which showed that among 160 countries, the Philippines is most affected by extreme weather conditions, such as intense floods, droughts and fiercer typhoons in 2013.

Legarda, United Nations Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation for Asia-Pacific, said past tragedies such as the tragic loss of lives and properties brought by Super Typhoon Haiyan, should serve as lesson to all of us to make our communities safer and more prepared for disasters.

“We have to prepare for the worst natural hazards through information campaign, distribution of geohazard maps, strict enforcement of land use regulations, acquisition of state-of-the-art weather and geophysical equipment and facilities, relocation of vulnerable communities and more importantly, development of green technology and resource efficiency programs,” she stressed.

She added, “While it is true that extreme weather is now the ‘new normal’, we must ensure that past disasters and tragedies will not happen again in the future.”

The Global Climate Risk Index 2015, published by Germany-based environmental think tank Germanwatch, is an analysis based on one of the most reliable data sets available on the impacts of extreme weather events and associated socio-economic data. It aims to contextualize ongoing climate policy debates with real-world impacts of the last year and the last 20 years.

Launched in December 2014 during the two-week United Nations climate change talks in Peru, the study highlighted the impact of extreme weather events in 2013, such as the magnitude of Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, which inflicted over $13 billion in economic loss and more than 6,000 deaths.